Ruscus hypoglossum
Mouse Thorn | |
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Scientific classification ![]() | |
Kingdom: | Plantae |
Clade: | Angiosperms |
Clade: | Monocots |
Order: | Asparagales |
Family: | Asparagaceae |
Subfamily: | Nolinoideae |
Genus: | Ruscus |
Species: | R. hypoglossum |
Binomial name | |
Ruscus hypoglossum L. | |
Ruscus hypoglossum is a small evergreen shrub with a native range from Italy north to Austria and Slovakia and east to Turkey and Crimea.[1] Common names include spineless butcher's-broom,[2] mouse thorn and horse tongue lily. The laurel crown of Caesar was made of Ruscus hypoglossum.[3] The species name comes from two Greek words hypo and glossus meaning under and tounge.
Description
![](../I/m/Ruscus_hypoglossum_at_The_Grand_Canyon_Of_Crimea.jpg)
The mature plant shrub will eventually reach about 46 cm (18 in) in height. It has a creeping rootstock and leaf-like phylloclades or flattened stems that are about 8 cm (3 in) wide to 4 cm (1 1⁄2 in) wide tapering at both ends. True leaves are smaller green appendages around the flowers. Small yellow flowers bloom in the axil of a leaf-like bract 2.5–3.8 cm (1–1.5 in) long on upper side of phylloclade. Fruit is a rarely produced red globose berry 0.6 to 1.3 cm (0.25 to 0.5 in) wide.[4]
References
- ↑ Halada, Ľ. "Ruscus hypoglossum L. in Slovakia" (PDF). Thaiszia 4: 183–195. ISSN 1210-0420.
- ↑ "BSBI List 2007". Botanical Society of Britain and Ireland. Archived from the original (xls) on 2015-02-25. Retrieved 2014-10-17.
- ↑ Mabberley, D.J. (1997). The plant book: A portable dictionary of the vascular plants. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
- ↑ "Ruscus hypoglossum". University of Connecticut - Ecology and Evolutionary Biology Plant Growth Facilities. Retrieved 19 March 2012.